Barnaby Joyce resigned from his position as Deputy Prime Minister on Friday, whilst standing at the look out in Armidale.
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The former Deputy Prime Minister; his affair, his love child and his bromance with Malcolm Turnbull have been making headlines A LOT over the past two weeks.
There’s been a lot of articles, press conferences and opinion pieces. We’d understand if you’d lost track.
To make life simple we've thrown it all in this article to keep you on track.
The beginning ...
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who revealed in parliament last year that his 24-year marriage had broken down, is expecting a baby with a former member of his staff.
Just hours after the Daily Telegraph confirmed the suspected rumours, Natalie Joyce spoke out about the affair and the expecting love child.
That evening Mr Joyce appeared on ABC’s 7.30 report and said his marriage break down was the greatest failure of his life.
Speculation on whether Mr Joyce would stand down from Deputy Prime Minister started early. His portfolios and his position in its entirety came into question almost straight after the news was confirmed. Northern Tablelands state member Adam Marshall’s name was thrown in the mix to run for the federal seat.
National Party Members said they feared the pregnancy could hurt the membership numbers.
The middle ...
Once the news had settled the investigating began, all of the Deputy Prime Minister’s official documents were called to examine.
He came under scrutiny for the accommodation he was living in rent free in Armidale during the by-election.
Questions were asked about when the Member for New England would be returning back to his electorate following the baby news.
More rumours circulated about misconduct, an article was published in The Daily Telegraph and Mr Joyce said the article was “not the truth” and that he reserved “his legal rights”.
The Tamworth public seem divided about the Deputy Prime Minister’s behaviour, although they all agree they’d like to see the government get on with governing.
Most recently
In the midst of this scandal, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has gone to the United States.
After much deliberation, it was decided Mr Joyce would go on leave for the period Mr Turnbull is in the states.
Before he left though Mr Turnbull altered the Ministerial Code of Conduct banning all ministers from having sex with a staffer.
Other members of the Nationals Party have been asked if there will be a leadership spill.
Riverina member Michael McCormack said ‘there is no vacancy’ in the top job, although this is after he was asked eight times about the Nationals Party leadership at a press conference on Monday.
On Tuesday Barnaby Joyce announced he wasn’t go anywhere. He blasted suggestions he should be ousted as Nationals leader as a "witch-hunt".
Stories of misconduct continued to roll in as Mr Joyce started losing support of some Nationals MPs.
Now…
Mr Joyce made the announcement in Armidale at 2pm on Friday, confirming he will resign at the party-room meeting on Monday morning in Canberra.
Grace Ryan
Deputy Editor at the Central Western Daily, Orange. You'll mostly find me tinkering in social media and newsletters. Working hard to get our stories in front of your eyes.
Deputy Editor at the Central Western Daily, Orange. You'll mostly find me tinkering in social media and newsletters. Working hard to get our stories in front of your eyes.
